Well I took off yesterday :-D and hit the Fall Carlisle show. How come you PA guys have been keeping this a secret? The thing is HUGE!! To those who were disappointed in Etown,you gotta go to Carlisle(cough...Ernie...cough). It took me 6 1/2 hours,but I covered every single row and area of that place. And that was stopping only twice for 5 minutes and maybe a total of 45 minutes talking with guys and looking closely at vendor booths. If that gives you any idea of how big it is. Someone told me that Thursdays aren't that good cause they are still setting up. Thats total BS as I only saw about 10 spaces that weren't set up yet. Loads of Elky parts to be found including Honest Charley's booth.

Now I have to give a plug out to a nice guy. I met with Ron from Tabco Body Parts (http://www.tabcobodyparts.com). Real nice guy and guess what? He has body parts for 70-77 Elky's. The one part(s) I've been looking for is bed floors. The only people I found previously were Year One. I had stopped by their booth and they had next to no parts with them. One guy asked if they had any parts for his whatever car and the dude gave him a bit of an attitude saying "well we carry 8 differant car lines and there are too many parts to bring". ***? So he tells the guy that they have free shipping if you buy at the show. So I asked about the bed floors and they are $119 each. Here's the kicker,cause it's an oversized piece,the free shipping clause doesn't apply. So add another $130 to have them shipped to NY. Talking to the Tabco guy,they panels are $97 each and the shipping would be $60 to NY but if I call before a show,he could load them on the truck for me(he didn't have them with him). Something the Year One guys wouldn't do cause "they don't have space on the truck to do that". So guess who I'm buying from? Walking around a bit,I notice that a lot of guys were selling the Tasco brand sheetmetal. They are made in the US too. Check out the site as they have bed floors for 73-77 as well.

Anyway,here's some pics. Sorry I didn't get all the Elky's I saw(missed about 4 of them). The pics. from the field/vendor areas really don't do justice to how huge this show/swap meet is. A lot of cars from the show field were already gone by the time I took these (5:30 pm),however from what I understand,there will be LOADS of show cars there all weekend(Oct. 1st-3rd).

http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/65elk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/66elk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/67elk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/70elk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/72elk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/72elk2.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/72elkss.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/86elk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/87elk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/field1.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/field2.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/field3.jpg
http://members.aol.com/firebirdgallery/field6.jpg

Looks like ColdBastrd found the Mecca of all swap meets??? Thanks for the info and the pictures. I always wondered what it looked like. I've bookmarked Tabco Body Parts for later use.

I've never been to a Carlisle show, nor have I seen the inside. Looks very large. I was thinking of going to the spring all GM next year. Can anybody add to Chris's info about the spring Carlisle show??? Just curious....

...To those who were disappointed in Etown,you gotta go to Carlisle(cough...Ernie...cough).
I went to Spring Carlisle (http://www.geocities.com/malibunirvana/carlisle/index.html) two years ago Chris. It's about six hours from my house. My son and I spent two days walking around. You're right, it is huge. I found that most of the stuff I was interested in was overpriced and the sellers were less apt to negotiate price.

its 62 or 65 acres of swap meet............................ 8O

I go several times every year. It's absolutely amazing. Tons of vendors, tons of parts, I rarely miss a show at Carlisle.